100 themes: Hidden Support
by Athena Silverwolf
Summary: 4- Windows People always said that the eyes were the window to the soul. Well, Anna had pulled the shades so far down over her eyes that no one had ever figured it out.
1. 1-Worth

**Author's Note: I've decided to write down the millions of ideas running through my head as a 100 themes story. Each theme tells a piece of the story, in order. Some may have a good deal of time between them, so I'll let you know at the beginning. This is an Own Character/Tony story, but it's not a romance. Reviews are much loved!**

Theme 1: Worth

_He acted without thinking. He'd been trained to protect people, now he was doing it again. And he knew this one was worth protecting._

The girl flashed a winning smile at the Marine standing behind the table. Her green eyes were bright and cheerful, and every time a boy passed, he stopped to stare at her openly. Even the Marine had to admit just how beautiful this girl was as she slipped money into the donation box and took a rubber wrist band from the table. "Happy Holidays, Lieutenant, and Semper Fi," she said.

"To you as well, miss. Thank you," he replied. He was taken aback by the fact that she'd easily identified him as a Lieutenant. Not many civilians recognized the differing markings and symbols for ranks on the uniforms. But clearly this one did, and he tipped his head to her as she smiled again and walked on.

The Lieutenant watched her walk down the sidewalk until she reached the crosswalk. She waited with a few other last minute shoppers for the light to turn, and as it was about to, a white van whipped around the corner and screeched to a halt half on the sidewalk. The side door was thrown open and two men in ski masks leaped out. One fired a gun into the air, effectively ensuing panic as shoppers screamed and scrambled to get away.

But one didn't have the option to get away. Without even hesitating, the Lieutenant pushed his way through the fleeing mass towards the men as they grabbed the green eyed girl, and he found his timing to be perfect. The one with the gun went down after the girl delivered a vicious kick with her heeled boot to the man's groin, and the Lieutenant tackled the other. The girl was slammed into the side of the van as he did, and he heard her head hit the concrete as she fell.

Marines were trained in hand to hand combat, and had the second man not weakly climbed to his feet, the Lieutenant would have overpowered the other quickly. As it was, the girl lifted her head in time to watch as the Lieutenant was shot in the abdomen. Her scream mingled with the gun shot, and she surged to her feet to catch the Marine as he fell. The two attackers climbed into the van and they raced away, but not before the girl was able to catch sight of the license plate.

"Someone call 9-1-1!" she shouted to one of the people nearby. Cradling the Lieutenant's head in her lap, the girl yanked her scarf off and tried to stem the flow of crimson, but to no avail. "Why did you save me?" she asked him, trying to keep him talking until the ambulance reached them.

"You were worth saving," he told her weakly.

"Not at the cost of your life," she protested, seeing just how young he really was. He couldn't have been older than twenty-three.

"You'll make a difference," he said softly, holding his hands over hers tightly.

"How do you know?" she asked, meeting his calm blue eyes.

"I have a gut feeling," he smiled with little energy and reached up with one bloody hand to wipe away a tear from her beautiful face. "Don't cry. Save your energy to find the ones who did this," he suggested.

"You'll have your justice, Lieutenant, you have my word," she promised, ignoring the fact that she could feel the smeared blood on her face. "If my life is worth saving, then yours is worth that much at least," she added.

"Semper Fi," he whispered, and his eyes closed. He sighed his last breath, and she stared numbly at his face, realizing she hadn't even known his name.


	2. 2-Headslaps

**Author's note: this takes place about 2 years after Gibbs hired Tony and about a month after Kate joined the team. McGee is not yet part of the team. Reviews are love! Feel free to let me know if you have any ideas for a theme!**

2-Headslaps

_He knew that cases with Marines, plus said Marine getting shot, plus a kidnapping equaled an unhappy Gibbs. And unhappy Gibbs equaled a lot of headslaps. _

"Don't bother," Gibbs snapped, stalking into the bullpen. Kate looked up from where she was about to put her SIG in her desk drawer as her boss took out his own gun. "We've got a dead Marine in Leesburg," he told the two younger agents.

"I'll gas the truck," Dinozzo offered, catching the keys as Gibbs chucked them at him.

"I guess I'll call Ducky," Kate murmured, picking up her phone.

"You guess, Agent Todd?" Gibbs rounded on her with a growl.

"I will," Kate corrected herself, seeing her boss's eyes flash.

"Damn right you will," he snapped.

"Gibbs!" Director Morrow called from the stairs. When the agent turned to him, the Director went on, "I need you to try not to throw the meat to the wolves, if you will. The victim apparently is some kind of heiress, and the media is all over the scene already."

"Heiress? I thought we were dealing with a dead Marine," Kate said.

"You are. The Marine died preventing the girl from being kidnapped," Morrow explained. But Kate didn't get the chance to reply as Gibbs gave her one of his best glares. As she fled into the elevator with her gear, Kate understood why he was so pissed already.

She realized Tony must have figured it out too, because when she climbed into the truck, he handed her a coffee and said, "That's for Gibbs."

"The Marine died preventing an heiress from being kidnapped," she whispered, and then Gibbs was yanking open the passenger door and climbing in beside her.

"Drive, Dinozzo," he ordered.

"Yes, Boss," Tony glanced at Kate as he pulled out of the garage, and they drove in silence for a while. Even Tony knew better than to piss the boss off even more than he was already. So he was completely expecting the headslap when he finally cracked a stupid joke.


	3. 3-Rule 39

**Author's Note: Oh my gods, guys, thank you so much! I can't believe how many views I've had in 24 hours! Reviews are love!**

**Just a little notice; this isn't a book. This is a series of themes. Therefore, I don't use chapters. There's a reason each theme tells what it does.**

Theme 3-Rule 39

_He felt like he'd been sucker-punched in the gut when he heard the heiress's name. But he had no idea he'd feel like someone had run him over when he saw the heiress's eyes._

When they arrived at the crime scene, they found Virginia State Police directing traffic and Leesburg P.D. on crowd control, and way too many media and news people. "Dinozzo, get them out of here. Kate, sketch and shoot," Gibbs ordered as he opened the back of the truck.

"Wait, you're giving me permission to use the Dinozzo charm?" Tony realized.

"No, I want you to beg them on your hands and knees," Gibbs drawled, headslapping him without even looking. Tony winced and hurried away, grinning as he took in the extremely attractive reporters in front of him.

Kate shook her head and grabbed the camera as Gibbs stalked over to the cop in charge. "What happened?" he asked.

"The best we've gotten is that witnesses say a van came around the corner, came to a stop on the sidewalk, and two men in ski masks leaped out. One fired a gun and they grabbed the girl. The Marine came running in and took them down, and then they shot him. One of the witnesses saw the girl trying to help him, but it was too late. All we got out of the girl before the EMTs took her was that she kicked the one with the gun before the Marine tackled the other," the detective replied, handing over the notebook he held.

"She's been taken to the hospital?" Gibbs asked.

"Being checked out for a concussion and possibly shock. They think she has a cracked rib too," the cop assured him.

"And her name?" Gibbs went on, jotting down his own notes.

"She said it was Anna Dilorenzo," the younger man answered.

"Dilorenzo?" Dinozzo's half strangled voice made Gibbs turn instantly. He found a pale and wide-eyed agent standing behind him.

"Tony? Tony, talk to me," Gibbs ordered gently, stepping closer to the young man.

After a second, Tony's color returned and he shook himself with a smile. "Sorry, boss, name sounds familiar from my childhood," he explained, "but it could just be a coincidence."

"Rule 39, Tony," Gibbs sighed.

"Yeah, boss, I know. But there are probably tons of Dilorenzos out there," Tony lied easily, but lying to Gibbs had always been harder.


	4. 4-Windows

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating everyone, life is a little hectic right now. Anyway, here you go!**

Theme 4-Windows

_People always said that the eyes were the window to the soul. Well, Anna had pulled the shades so far down over her eyes that no one had ever figured it out._

"Can I help you?" the doctor asked as he came out of the examining room.

"NCIS Special Agents Gibbs and Dinozzo. We're looking for Anna Dilorenzo," Gibbs told him.

"I'm Doctor Salem. I just finished attempting to check her over, but she insists she just needs an ice pack and a change of clothes. I want to keep her overnight but she refuses to cooperate," the man replied.

"Has she threatened to sign herself out AMA?" Dinozzo asked.

"Twice. And the problem is that she has no medical history on file," Dr. Salem sighed.

"Private physician?" Tony guessed.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the doctor admitted. "I got the feeling she wouldn't be looked after very well if she went home," he added.

"Why's that?" Gibbs asked.

"She pretty much ordered me not to notify her legal guardian, even though she is a legal adult and doesn't need her guardian anymore," Salem told them.

"Can she be released?" Gibbs's gut had suddenly gone into gear, and he knew there was more than an attempted kidnapping and a dead Marine to this case.

"She needs to be watched. She has a concussion," was the reply.

"We'll watch her," the team leader told him.

"We will?" Dinozzo asked.

"We have to take her into protective custody," the former Marine explained.

"Oh, right," Dinozzo was clearly distracted, glancing redundantly at the door behind the doctor.

"Go ahead in. I'll get her papers," Salem told them, and Gibbs stepped forward to knock quickly on the door.

"Come in," a young woman's voice called, and they opened the door to find a nurse bandaging a teenage girl's forehead. "Can I help you?" The nurse asked.

"NCIS Special Agents Gibbs and Dinozzo. We're here for Anna Dilorenzo," Gibbs told her.

The girl sitting on the examining table shifted slightly but didn't lift her head. "You're here about the Lieutenant who died protecting me, aren't you?" She asked.

"And we're here to take you into protective custody," he replied without his usual gruffness.

"Because you know about my home life, somehow, and you don't trust that I'll be safe there from another kidnapping attempt," she said simply, not even asking a question.

As she lifted her head, revealing the dark bruising and the small square of gauze, she looked up and met Gibbs's eyes for a second. Then her breath caught and her gaze switched to Tony, who stood behind Gibbs' shoulder. Gibbs watched as her face lost whatever color she had, and he turned as he felt Tony take an entire step back. His SFA was as pale as the girl and bore an identical expression of shock and near panic.

'Her eyes. God, her eyes are my eyes exactly. Everything about her, even the pain I can see her trying to hide. She's used to closing the windows to her soul off,' Tony thought, staring, wide eyed at the girl who could be a female version of him.

"You look exactly like me," they both whispered.


End file.
